Pear and Ginger Ricotta Cheesecake with Salted Caramel Drizzle

This “ricotta” cheesecake is filled with the delightfully fragrant flavors of pear and ginger. The salted caramel drizzle is also laced with the sharp bright notes of fresh grated ginger and melds nicely with the pillowy texture of this cake. For best storage results, I recommend chilling the drizzle and the cheesecake separately until serving.

Crust:

2 cups almond meal

3 tablespoons refined coconut oil, melted

3 tablespoons turbinado sugar

Filling:

3 pears, peeled and chopped

2 tablespoons sucanat, turbinado or brown sugar

dash sea salt

1 (12.3 ounce) package extra firm silken tofu

2 (8 ounces each) tubs vegan cream cheese

1 tablespoon lemon juice

5 tablespoons sorghum flour

1/4 cup + 2 tablespoons organic sugar

1 1/2 teaspoons grated ginger

1/2 teaspoon sea salt

1 cup drained, pressed and crumbled extra firm tofu

Caramel Sauce:

1 1/4 cup turbinado sugar

2/3 cup fullfat coconut milk

1 tablespoon refined coconut oil or margarine

2 dashes salt

To make the Crust:

Preheat your oven to 400 °F. In a large bowl, crumble the almond meal, coconut oil and sugar together until well combined. Stir well using a wooden spoon or large wooden fork until the mixture begins to clump together. Transfer to an 8 inch springform pan and press the crust against the bottom and up the sides of the pan to form a thin crust. Bake in the preheated oven for 10 minutes. Remove from heat and let cool briefly.

To make the Filling:

In a small saucepan over medium heat, cook the pears, sucanat and dash of salt until broken down and thickened, about 7 minutes. Allow to briefly cool and then transfer to a food processor along with the rest of the filling ingredients, except for the crumbled extra firm tofu. Puree until very smooth, at least 6 minutes. Add in crumbled tofu and pulse a few times until fairly smooth, but not completely pureed.

Spread filling into the prepared pie pan and bake in oven preheated to 400 °F for 15 minutes. Reduce oven temperature to 250 °F without removing the cheesecake from the oven and bake another 70 minutes. Turn oven off and let cheesecake remain in the oven for 2 more hours. Chill in the refrigerator while you make the caramel topping.

To make the Salted Caramel Drizzle:

In a medium sized saucepan over medium heat, combine the turbinado sugar, coconut milk, coconut oil and salt and bring to a boil, stirring often. Let boil, continuing to stir occasionally for about 6 minutes, or until slightly thickened. Let cool in the pan and then pour on top of cheesecake. Chill at least 4 hours before serving.

Hi Allyson, this looks amazing and I plan on making it for my family. Quick question.. in the filling ingredients the third item reads “1 package of extra firm silken tofu”. Do you use extra firm or silken? They are two opposite things and I would imagine will have a big difference on the texture?

Thanks for the question. Silken tofu comes in firm, soft and extra firm just like the regular stuff (usually in the aseptic packages), so use the firmest silken tofu you can find for the silken tofu called for in the ingredients list. The tofu called for at the end of the ingredient list is just regular extra firm tofu, crumbled. :)

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Many thanks for sharing this recipe…it looks so elegantly delicious! If you have a preferred brand of vegan cream cheese, I’d love to know. I haven’t really used it in a baked dish so I’d guess taste and texture might make a difference…? Cheers!